I recently slapped a wood stove into our home, cant wait to be toasty this winter.

My question about insurance is-do any of you know of any providers who do not tack on the 25% wood stove surcharge?

I know my current provider does and so does SGI. There must be many who do not.

After hearing rumour that some do not, I recently checked and found that TD's Meloche Monnex (under a UofS Alumni group) will cover me for almost $500 less than my current provider... compared to after my current provider tacks on their 25% surcharge. Their quote is $800 with stove, but my current insurance is just over $1000 before that tack their surcharge AND I have security and am claims free since birth... WTF???

BuddyBoy

10-05-2011, 08:24 PM

OS, good luck with it. There are not too many companies that won't charge the surcharge. Let us know if you find one, I have a pellet stove and they whack the surcharge on those too.

Hunter

10-05-2011, 08:30 PM

My father in law owns the SGI in town and has started working with a new insurance provider, i just switched my insurance and its over $500 a year less than SGI's and i have better coverage.

The name of the company is The Mutual Fire Insurance Company of British Columbia

PAPA BEAR

10-05-2011, 08:58 PM

I gave up on my wood stove. We quite using it because the insurance was more than we saved on gas. Kept it in place, filled with bricks. It is there if we ever get an ice storm and end up with no heat for weeks.

Our broker wanted us to remove it. Major reno to do that. So we settled with filling it full of brick.

We installed a high efficant furnace 3 years ago, our gas bill dropped by half. And the best part, I don't have to chop wood. more time for hunting and fishing.

masonsdad

10-05-2011, 09:14 PM

i have a wood stove in my shop which is not even close to the house and i still pay the extra 25%.:thumbs_do

PAPA BEAR

10-05-2011, 09:29 PM

i have a wood stove in my shop which is not even close to the house and i still pay the extra 25%.:thumbs_do

I put a wood stove in my garage, had to remove it, or no insurance. reason was it had an open flame and I stored my vehicals in the garage that had gas stored in them. I argued that a pilot light was an open flame, but with no luck.

I could however build a seperate sealed room that only the CERTIFIED wood stove was in and blow the heat into the garage.

I found a gas furnace for 100.00 and put it in.

Call-o-wild

10-05-2011, 10:04 PM

I have a wood stove mostly because I don't have Natural Gas so the cost of heating with wood is definitely cheaper. Insurance companies always protect themselves by screwing the customer, no matter what the situation. I will be looking up that new company to cause SGI and others need competition, besides the guy that sold me my insurance is possibly the worst agent EVER.

Copper

10-05-2011, 10:06 PM

Wow, this I didn't know. I installed a wood burning stove in my last place in Alberta and my insurance rates never went up 1 cent. As long as it was checked over by a certified inspector we were good to go. The place we bought in Sask has a wood burning stove, never thought to check the increase in rates because of it!

canada

10-05-2011, 10:10 PM

we built a home here and asked out agent same questions... actually ended up with nat gas furnaces vs wood fire. he stated the price of ins would change min w having wood in the house. not sgi

not sure who we ended up with... some provider out of bc maybe? thats his job to find the best rates lol

truckin_moose

10-05-2011, 11:25 PM

If you have a home like ours, between what you save on heating oil or propane and the savings on not having insurance, we could replace our house every 8-10 years. Ya, we burn wood. :p
:34:

spikebuck

10-06-2011, 12:05 AM

I put a wood stove in my garage, had to remove it, or no insurance. reason was it had an open flame and I stored my vehicals in the garage that had gas stored in them. I argued that a pilot light was an open flame, but with no luck.

I could however build a seperate sealed room that only the CERTIFIED wood stove was in and blow the heat into the garage.

I found a gas furnace for 100.00 and put it in.

Wood stoves in shops our garages must be a minimum of 18 inches of floor.

masonsdad

10-06-2011, 07:47 AM

yep your right i have to have my stove min. of 18in. off the floor because there is gasoline present in the shop. my insurance agent came out and inspected everything and took pics and was good to go. i made concrete supports about 8 in. high to achieve the 18inches.

Cal B

10-06-2011, 07:54 AM

Yup, my shop and house heated with wood. Find the right insurance company and have everything inspected and no premiums need be paid.

PAPA BEAR

10-06-2011, 08:29 AM

Wood stoves in shops our garages must be a minimum of 18 inches of floor.

and 30 inches from walls. It was easier to put in the gas furnace than fight with insurance. Be caususe, they change the rulling from time to time and don't let U know.

PAPA BEAR

10-06-2011, 08:31 AM

Yup, my shop and house heated with wood. Find the right insurance company and have everything inspected and no premiums need be paid.

23 years ago these right brokers weren't around, I guess :confused:

But like I said, I have more time to hunt and fish cause I am not chopping wood.:teeth:

BuddyBoy

10-06-2011, 01:40 PM

I just called a broker for the Mutual Fire Insurance of BC and I talked with him about this company. He said they all have different policies on wood/pellet stoves but he does work with companies who have NO surcharge on stoves. I already booked him in for a quote on my place, I believe my insurance is coming up in Jan or Feb/12.

Anyone wanting his name and number please PM me. I'm in the north/central country but I'm sure they have brokers in the south too.

timbo9390

10-06-2011, 03:12 PM

Check out Portage la Prairie ins............ if I remember right, they have a reasonable pkg for wood users.

laut

10-06-2011, 03:27 PM

Check out WAWANESA ............ if I remember right, they have a reasonable pkg for wood users.

yes, They do ! I told them that I am going to put a wood stove in my cabin for the winter. They told me that all I have to do is to give them the measurement of the stove pipe and the distance between the wall and the stove. The cabin insurance didn't change or nothing. Wawanesa is a good one to deal with in my opinion.

204saskman

10-06-2011, 03:53 PM

yes, They do ! I told them that I am going to put a wood stove in my cabin for the winter. They told me that all I have to do is to give them the measurement of the stove pipe and the distance between the wall and the stove. The cabin insurance didn't change or nothing. Wawanesa is a good one to deal with in my opinion.

I would look at SMI. I got 2 grain/pellet stoves in my place and my insurance went up 10% for the 2. I know you also need a Wett inspection. I had both mine done and its just a safety thing. SGI was 25% increase with wett inspection. I had 10 different quotes and smi was the cheapest i found.

deadhead

10-06-2011, 05:24 PM

With SGI there was no change in my cabin cost when I put in a wood stove but if it was my residence then there would be and it would have to be inspected.

One Stab

10-06-2011, 10:17 PM

SMI is what we are likely going to end up ditching and our broker says something called Mutual Fire is going to cost less, which is what we will take. I believes Mutual Fire has already been mentioned here...

Once again, great f'n website this menoutdoors is, thanks...

204saskman

10-07-2011, 11:23 PM

SMI is what we are likely going to end up ditching and our broker says something called Mutual Fire is going to cost less, which is what we will take. I believes Mutual Fire has already been mentioned here...

Once again, great f'n website this menoutdoors is, thanks...

Thats weird cause SMI had the best coverage and best price for us. SGI and Co operators were the worth. Wawanesa was ok but still 300 more than SMI. And it was pretty much the same coverage.

spikebuck

10-08-2011, 11:21 AM

Thats weird cause SMI had the best coverage and best price for us. SGI and Co operators were the worth. Wawanesa was ok but still 300 more than SMI. And it was pretty much the same coverage.

Hey 204 were is your broker? They guy i am dealing with is raking me over the coals!

timbo9390

10-08-2011, 11:35 AM

The other thing we did was say that the primary heat source was electric. I am talking about a cabin here not a full time residence, and the insurance was ok with a woodstove for a "fireplace". I just had to send in pix and measurements from wall and such.
This is a good thread......... Thanks for the input guys!

I will be giving a call to SMI.

204saskman

10-08-2011, 02:22 PM

Hey 204 were is your broker? They guy i am dealing with is raking me over the coals!

My broker is Hoffman & Kool in stoon. I listed mine as secondary heat and electric as primary. You have to do this as thay charge way to much other wise. I talked to Bill Hoffman and he was awsome. I asked for a bunch of quotes from the best to the worst and in between and he got them for me. I still pay a bit for insurance, but i dont mind cause i want good coverage.

moffdog32

10-08-2011, 02:45 PM

I did research on this as well. I put in a Wood fire place and Not a stove. That way it has no effect on my insurance, wood stoves do fireplaces do Not. something to do with the fire box of the stove being out in the open.... my insurance did not go up with wood burning fireplace.